Happiness in high school students: autonomy, relatedness, competence and meaning in life

Abstract

The present study examines the roles of the satisfaction of basic psychological needs and meaning in life (MIL) on high school students’ happiness. In the study, the basic psychological needs scale, MIL questionnaire, the positive and negative affect schedule and the satisfaction with life scale were used as instruments. Happiness or subjective well-being (SWB) contains three components: life satisfaction, positive affect and negative affect. The data were analysed through the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient technique and multiple linear regression analysis. According to results, autonomy, competence, relatedness and MIL predict SWB significantly. These three variables explain 56% of the total variance. SWB is explained by relatedness, autonomy and competence for females, respectively, and for males competence, MIL and relatedness, respectively. The results were further examined in light of recent research and implications for counselling and school with high school students subjects are discussed.

Keywords: Subjective well-being, basic psychological needs, meaning in life, gender, high school students.